Saturday, December 29, 2018

A delivery driver was carjacked at gunpoint Friday evening near Boystown. Minutes later, a woman was robbed by a gunman in Roscoe Village. The two incidents are part of a late-year surge in robberies around Lakeview, Lincoln Park, and nearby North Side neighborhoods. Here are the details:

• A Domino’s Pizza driver told police that his car was taken at gunpoint when he stopped to make a delivery in the 500 block of West Aldine around 8 p.m. on Friday. The man said a masked gunman approached him, took control of his car, and sped away eastbound on Aldine and southbound on Inner Lake Shore Drive. Taken was a Toyota Camry that bears license plate 673121. It has a lighted Domino’s sign on its roof. The offender was described as a black male who was wearing a dark stocking cap and all-black clothing.

Approximate location of the Roscoe Village hold-up

• At 8:10 p.m., a Roscoe Village resident was robbed at gunpoint on the corner of Ravenswood and Roscoe, according to a police report. The woman told police that the gunman took her valuables and then ran southbound on Ravenswood. He was described as being black, thin, in his 20’s, and wearing dark clothing.

Friday evening's carjacking was the latest in a series of carjackings in and near Lakeview:

On Thursday, a female Lyft driver told police that she was sitting in her vehicle in the 3700 block of North Wilton when two offenders walked up to her car around 8:20 p.m.

The men opened the driver’s side door, removed the woman’s seatbelt, and told her to get out. She complied and the offenders sped off eastbound on Grace Street with her vehicle, police said. Taken was a silver 2017 Toyota Corolla bearing license plate ZX85878. The offenders were described only as black males.

Also on Thursday, a 35-year-old man was run over by a carjacker who stole his vehicle in the Old Town neighborhood. Police said the man pulled his 2016 Subaru onto the 200 block of West Eugenie to load his wife and child into the car shortly after 10 p.m. Before the victim could put the child into the car, a man entered his vehicle and tried to drive away. The victim confronted the thief and tried to pull him out of the car, but he lost his footing, slipped, and fell to the pavement, police said. The carjacker then ran over the victim and continued eastbound on Eugenie.

Police described the offender as a black male who stands 5’6” to 5’8” tall, weighs 130- to 140 pounds, and has a short hairstyle.

On Monday, a Lakeview man was carjacked in a similar manner as he sat in his vehicle in the 2700 block of North Lake Shore Drive near the Diversey Harbor driving range. That man’s vehicle was later recovered on the South Side.

Last Friday, a man was in the 2700 block of North Wilton near the intersection with Schubert Avenue when two offenders approached him, demanded his car, and repeatedly beat him.

And on Dec. 20th, a man who lives in the 1100 block of West George Street told police that he was approached near his home by a gunman who tried to take his car shortly before 5 a.m. The robbery failed, although a police spokesman today was unable to provide details of how the carjacking fell through.